| A hearty congratulations goes out to Oregon state House Speaker Jeff Merkley for winning a hard-fought Democratic primary and earning our Party's nomination for Senate in 2008. First and foremost, I want to reiterate how critical it is that Democrats demonstrate unity right off the bat now that we have a nominee. The goal is to oust Republican Gordon Smith and replace him with a progressive Democrat. Steve Novick ran an impressive campaign, raised important issues, and made Speaker Merkley a better general election candidate.
 The good news is that Rasmussen Reports polling numbers from just a week and a half ago see a statistical dead heat between Speaker Merkley and Republican Smith, 45-42. No doubt, the positive press from his successful primary campaign should give Speaker Merkley a modest bump, cementing a neck-and-neck race (or better). Additional good news includes record Democratic turnout in the Oregon primary, indicating heightened enthusiasm for Democratic candidates. And there's also the oft-discussed "Obama bump" offered by our Presidential nominee.
The challenging news is that Gordon Smith has a bankroll approaching $5 million cash-on-hand with which to attack Speaker Merkley and to muddy his own record to falsely portray himself as a moderate. We see this already beginning as Smith has just released an ad in which the words "moderate," "independent," and "bipartisan" appear on the screen from the start of the ad and soft-soap Republican Smith's conservative record. In fact, the word "Republican" does not appear in the ad. Mitigating the financial challenge is the fact that the DSCC enjoys a $20 million cash-on-hand advantage over the NRSC. No doubt, the DSCC will allocate significat resources to ousting Republican Gordon Smith.
 Gordon Smith has a terrible record on Iraq, on health care, on education, on the environment, on the economy, on civil rights, on veterans' issues, and on a woman's right to choose. Further, he is bought and paid for by Big Pharma, Big Oil, and other special interests. To top it off, Gordon Smith is inextricably tied to George W. Bush, and Smith votes the way Bush wants him to 90% of the time.
By comparison, Speaker Merkley has presided over one of the most progressive Legislative sessions in decades.
Not only that, but compare Gordon Smith's approve-disapprove to that of Democratic Senator Ron Wyden. Smith's net approval is only 10 points, while Wyden's net approval is 24 points. Voters obviously prefer Wyden to Smith. And the fact that Smith too often cancels out Ron Wyden's vote on critical issues will be an important point.
Speaker Merkley, who Senate Guru enthusiastically endorsed last month, has been added to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page. Democrats have the grassroots. Democrats have the issues. Democrats have the momentum. The only thing we need here to ensure that Gordon Smith gets fired by the voters of Oregon is the resources to prevent Republican Smith from misleading the electorate about his atrocious record. Please contribute to Speaker Merkley's campaign ASAP. This one is critical - and this one is very, very winnable. Congratulations Speaker Merkley. The general election campaign to oust Republican Gordon Smith begins right now.
UPDATE: It's worth noting that nearly 15% of the Republican Senate primary vote went to longshot candidate Gordon Leitch, ostensibly as a protest vote to register discontent with Smith among Republicans. Good stuff. |
